Social security innovation for inclusive worker support during the corona crisis?

In the current Corona crisis the European Commission recommended short-time working schemes with the so-called SURE scheme. Short-time working had proven to be an effective measure already during the economic crisis where many countries made short-time working more accessible for flexible workers. The examples of Germany and the Netherlands show that even in affluent countries, and in spite of their opening-up to new groups of workers, some flexible workers remain excluded. As regards protection against unemployment or income loss, the Corona crisis uncovered coverage gaps. In both Germany and the Netherlands existing schemes were deemed insufficient and subsequently temporarily extended or complemented by very temporary new schemes to provide a basic level of security. This parallels developments during the economic crisis, where many measures enacted then to help fragmented workers were of a temporary nature.Rather than temporary quick-fix solutions when crises hit, it would be beneficial to create permanent support structures that provide more encompassing and reliable income security for all types of fragmented workers. This would make these measures more “crisis-proof” and moreover enable meeting the needs for securities of vulnerable workers beyond a crisis context.Moreover, the use of certain employment forms needs to be questioned as done with reference to the mini-jobs for example.